


Looking for Miracles

by Brumeier



Series: Bite Sized Fic [42]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Animal Attack, First Kiss, M/M, Mission Fic, Pining, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 10:44:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6191986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>LJ Comment Fic for TV Movie Titles prompt: <i>Stargate Atlantis, Evan Lorne/David Parrish, "Looking For Miracles"</i></p><p>In which Lorne gets to be heroic, and Parrish gets to be bold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Looking for Miracles

There was a lot of beauty in the Pegasus galaxy, if a person knew where to look. Evan Lorne, with his artist’s eye, had no trouble seeing it. The midnight sheen of a handful of tava beans. The slant of light through the stained glass windows in the Gate room. The delicate turn of Dr. Parrish’s wrist as he gently tugged plants out of the soil.

The nice thing about excursions with the botanists was the down time. They generally visited uninhabited planets, so the only dangers to be on the lookout for were environmental, or related to indigenous animals and insects. Once Lorne did a sweep with the LSD and set up proximity alarms, he was able to spend some time with his pocket-sized sketchbook.

Lorne kept a casual eye on his scientists, making sure none of them were ever out of his field of vision. Their chatter about the classifications and practical uses of the plants they were collecting was nice background noise as he sketched the lacy, pointed leaves on the clusters of purple flowers growing at his feet, or the narrow lines of Dr. Parrish’s face.

It was entirely possible he spent way too much time sketching the weedy botanist. If anyone ever got hold of that book it would reveal much more about Lorne than he was willing to share.

“Colonel?”

Lorne looked up, saw that all three botanists were standing still, heads cocked. “Dr. Bennett? Is something wrong?”

Even as he asked, Lorne tucked the sketchbook and pencil away, and got to his feet.

“Do you hear that?”

Now that she’d mentioned it, he did. A low buzzing sound that was steadily getting louder, which meant that whatever was making the noise was on the move. The proximity alarms started to sound as Lorne pulled out the LSD, and the reading he got off of it made him catch his breath.

“Everyone back to the ‘jumper! Leave everything and go!”

There was a big blob of something headed their way. From the sound of it, Lorne would bet money on the Pegasus version of bees, or wasps. Neither option was good, not if the things were swarming.

Bennett and Obasanjo didn’t hesitate, they just took off running, but Parrish started frantically tossing his samples in one of the open cases.

“Parrish! Move out!”

“No, but these are important! I can’t just –”

Lorne grabbed the man by the front of his blue jacket and pulled him up. “They’re not more important than you!” 

He shoved Parrish towards the ‘jumper as the sky behind them darkened and the buzzing rose to an angry pitch. Lorne didn’t like having to get physical with the scientists, but some of them didn’t have an ounce of self-preservation. And he’d be damned if anyone was going down in a swarm of angry bees on his watch.

They almost made it to the ‘jumper before Obasanjo raised the back hatch. But Parrish tripped over something – possibly his own feet – and he went down hard, taking Lorne with him. Lorne instinctively tucked and rolled, but he could hear the _woof_ sound Parrish made as the air was driven from his lungs. It was too late to do anything but take protective measures, so Lorne covered Parrish as best he could with his own body and closed his eyes, waiting for the pain.

The buzzing was nearly deafening at that point, but Lorne could feel Parrish’s chest hitching as he gasped for air. He opened his eyes, thought maybe he could offer one last apology for failing to keep the man safe, but the words died in his throat.

Parrish was looking up over Lorne’s shoulder, eyes alight and a grin on his face that showed all his teeth. Lorne risked a look up himself, and he couldn’t believe what he saw.

Butterflies. Thousands and thousands of butterflies, iridescent wings glimmering blue and green and gold in the sunlight. One landed briefly on Parrish’s forehead before darting away again.

“Defense mechanism!” Parrish shouted up at Lorne. He looked absolutely delighted. “The buzzing, I mean!”

Lorne couldn’t stop looking at him, at the wonder-filled expression on his face. Parrish held his hand up, and three butterflies perched on it, wings fluttering. He turned to Lorne, like maybe he wanted to say something, but his smile melted away and they ended up staring at each other.

He didn’t know what expression was on his face, but in that moment Lorne didn’t care what he might be giving away. He _wanted_ Parrish to see it, wanted him to know how beautiful he looked in the midst of that buzzing, shimmering cloud. Lorne did his best to commit the moment to memory until he could paint it.

There wasn’t much space between them, so Parrish didn’t have far to go to press his lips against Lorne’s, or grab hold of Lorne’s neck and pull him even closer.

Lorne went willingly, happily, letting everything else fade away except for the feel of Parrish’s mouth on his, Parrish’s hand on his neck. And when Parrish licked at Lorne’s lips, he let the man deepen the kiss with a grateful sigh.

When they came up for air the swarm had passed, leaving one or two stragglers. Bennett and Obasanjo were busily packing up the plant samples and very obviously not looking at the two of them.

Lorne hastily rolled off of Parrish, embarrassed to have lost control. Especially in front of an audience. But Parrish continued to lie on the ground, even pulling his arms back to pillow his head on his hands.

“’To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles’,” he said.

“The zoologists will be sad they missed it,” Lorne agreed. He got to his feet and brushed himself off, trying to regain some semblance of control.

“I wasn’t talking about the butterflies,” Parrish replied. The look he gave Lorne was packed with more heat than Lorne had imagined he’d ever be on the receiving end of. Especially from the mild-mannered botanist.

Lorne flushed, and he had a hard time wrangling the pleased smile off of his face. Dr. Bennett eased around him, a case in each hand and a pink blush on her cheeks, but Dr. Obasanjo grinned at him and nodded.

“You ready to head back?” Lorne asked, pulling Parrish up off the ground. He gave the botanist’s hand a squeeze before letting go, a promise to both of them.

“I think I am.” Parrish grinned and walked off towards the ‘jumper, hands in his pockets and whistling. 

Lorne followed closely behind, already planning ways he and Parrish could spend their next Sunday off together.

**Author's Note:**

>  **AN:** First time playing with the Porne pairing, so hopefully I did it justice. The quote Parrish shares with Lorne is credited to Mary Davis.


End file.
